


Wear Your Heart on Your Wrist

by Anasten27



Series: Of Windy Days at the Ocean [17]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Feelings, idk man, keyblade fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25720258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anasten27/pseuds/Anasten27
Summary: After Ventus' confession Kairi spends the week reflecting on her feelings for him.
Relationships: Aqua & Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Of Windy Days at the Ocean [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1314263
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Wear Your Heart on Your Wrist

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! What a year, huh? So, idk if anyone that was following the series is still out there. This certainly took a long time to come out! Sorry about that. I started my first year of University learning animation! I really don't want to abandon this work, but I'm not sure the next part is coming any time soon, so I hope this is nice enough for now...

She had trouble falling asleep that night. How could she after the revelation that had happened earlier that day? Ventus liked her. Like liked her.

It was so hard for her to make sense of it, her mind going back to every time they had hung out, every little gesture, every look he had ever directed her way.

If she really thought about it, there were some instances she supposed she had suspected it on a gut level, moments where she had realized there had been something more behind his looks and smiles. But she had dismissed them all, her mind never really going to that particular possibility.

If anything, the more she analyzed it all, the more sense it made. Ven had told her the truth though; he had never acted upon those feelings, every one of his actions staying in the realm of friendship.

She didn't know how to feel about it.

Was there even a way she should feel about it? She didn't know that either.

She knew nothing and this late at night she couldn't think too coherently, so her train of thought was going absolutely nowhere, only helping her in making her stomach feel strangely heavy and fluttery at the same time, keeping her uncomfortably awake.

She looked at her alarm clock, wincing at the time. School was definitely going to be a nightmare the next day. Could she just go ahead and skip a week? She didn't have any tests that she could remember… No, of course she wouldn't skip classes for something as simple as a confession.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. She had a feeling this was going to be a long week.

-

Kairi was acting a bit strange. It wasn’t enough for Riku to ask her about it yet, but enough for him to make sure to pay closer attention. She had been fine the day before, so what had changed?

She was distracted. By what exactly? He didn't know. The teacher had asked her a question and she hadn’t been able to come up with any kind of answer, even when she was given an explanation about the topic a second time.

It didn’t look like her attention was diverted by anything actually physical like a book or her gummiphone, but more like she was completely lost in thought. Not sad; he knew her sad eyes far too well at this point, and this was not one of those occasions.

He wondered, then, what was it that kept her so preoccupied as to ignore the world around her so suddenly?

She was fairly quiet at lunch as well and didn’t eat much. He made sure that she at least took the apple that came with their food for later, in case she got hungry. She agreed absentmindedly, putting it away in her bag before turning to leave to their next class.

-

The way back home was the same; Kairi was quiet except when he asked her something directly and even then she took her time to just process what he had said before giving a short answer and going back to her own little world.

Was she having a bad day? It would be understandable; she obviously was allowed to not be happy all the time just like everyone else, but she would usually let him know when she wasn't feeling well. This was something different, and Riku wasn't sure what the root of the problem might be, or if there really was a problem at all.

Maybe he'd let her be like this, let her sort out whatever she was going through by herself, but be on the lookout in case it got worse.

He hoped she'd go back to normal soon.

-

It was the last day of class for the week. Nothing had changed. She still didn't pay attention, almost completely ignored her surroundings, and continued to be confined to her own little world.

By the third day he thought, "alright, it's fine, maybe her problems are too complex to solve in such a short amount of time, but she'll definitely be better soon. No big deal, Kairi can take care of herself most of the time, she'll be fine."

The fact that nothing had changed yet was concerning. A heaviness in the pit of his stomach told him that it was time to intervene.

So he took his best friend by the arm and dragged her all the way to the library, a place quiet enough to have a normal volume conversation and private enough for them to discuss the topic at hand. 

"Okay, what's going on?" He jumped straight to his point. "You've been really out of it this past few days and I'm starting to worry."

She seemed surprised before she looked down, taking her necklace in between her fingers as she said a quiet "sorry". But her eyes stayed lost, her mind seemingly still trapped within itself.

"Come on. Please, tell me what's going on, Kairi." She looked back up at him, her eyes searching his as he murmured, "Whatever this is about, let me help you."

"I’m so sorry, but the thing is… I don't think you can? I actually need to figure something out on my own…" She gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I've had you so worried. I've been trying my best to deal with this but it's proving… quite difficult, I guess you could say."

She let her gaze fall again then, following the patterns she started tracing on the ground with the tip of her shoe.

He huffed softly. He didn't like feeling like there was nothing he could do to help his best friend. "Well can you at least give me an idea of what you're dealing with? I really don't like seeing you like this."

For some reason that made her fidget a bit more. She let go of her necklace in favor of touching one of her various bracelets, a golden one with a sort of sun pattern made up of yellow crystals. He frowned slightly; he didn't remember seeing that one before.

She brushed a strand of her hair away from her face and hid her hands behind her back. "It's, um…" She didn't look at him at all as she finished hesitantly, "boy problems?"

Oh! ...Wait, what?

Riku blinked a few times, his eyes narrowing in confusion before he repeated, "Boy problems?"

"Yeah? I—I don't know, just—forget about it, it's not important, alright?" Kairi said, turning to leave, almost as if ashamed.

"No, wait." He caught her wrist before she got too far. "If it's been bothering for this long, then it is important."

She stood there quietly.

"This isn't… about him again, is it?" If it were, it would be really weird that she'd use that kind of term for it.

"No, it's not," she sighed. "But the situation has made me think about him a little."

She fidgeted with her sun bracelet again.

"Where’d you get that?" Riku asked, nodding towards the piece of jewelry.

He didn't miss the change of color on her cheeks.

"It has to do with your…" He cringed internally at the term he was about to use again, "your boy problems?"

Kairi nodded slowly, unable to take her eyes off the object.

"So… if it has to do with the issue, then why are you using it?"

"Because my problem isn't with the gift itself, but more about who gave it to me."

"And that doesn't make you uncomfortable?"

She kept quiet before she finally looked into his eyes again, a troubled look on her face.

"That's the thing… It doesn't bother me like I thought it would."

The bell rang, yet they stood there, letting it call everybody else back to class as they ignored its instruction. The silence after that was heavier as the implications of that settled.

"Wait—" Riku started, but stopped himself, waving a hand in front of him as if that would help his mind see the situation more clearly. "Then does that mean—? Are you—?"

"I don't know." Kairi interrupted him as she hugged herself and looked off to the side. "I just… I don't know…"

-

"You… gonna paint my nails now or just keep starin' at 'em?" Spades wiggled her fingers in Kairi's grasp, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Sorry…” she said and continued applying the nail polish.

“Y’know, if you’re gettin’ bored with this, we can totally do somethin’ else. I’m here ‘cause we’re friends and not just for the free food. We could watch a movie, play some card games...”

“No, it’s fine. I’ve just been a bit distracted lately.”

Spades raised an eyebrow and examined her for a moment then, trying to catch her eyes as she continued painting. When Kairi didn’t react at all, she snapped her fingers with her free hand to catch her attention.

“Hey, look at me for a sec.”

Kairi stopped the strokes of the tiny brush and looked up, confused by her request. Spades was looking at her with an exaggerated contemplative face, placing a fist under her chin and humming loudly. After a moment she pointed at her and smirked.

“Does this have something to do with Prince?”

“Huh?” Kairi shook her head slightly to clear her increasingly racing thoughts. “I’m sorry, who?”

“Prince! Y’know, your blond friend!"

"My what now?" She squeaked, silently praying she had misheard that last part—which she had.

"Your friend, the one who taught you how to dance? Messy hair? Blue eyes?"

"You mean Ven?"

"Yeah, Prince."

"What do you—? I mean, why would this have anything to do with him? I don't get why you'd make such a connection! I'm not—I mean—," she stumbled over her words, her face feeling hotter by the second.

"Oh! Did I guess correctly?" Spades chuckled. "Come on, tell me what happened. Spill all the beans, 'cause I'm hungry."

"Nothing's happened!"

"Oh, Queen, those eyes don't lie. You, my friend, are having some heart problems." Spades took the nail polish from her, put it aside and let her chin rest on both of her hands. "So tell me your woes, let's see what this is all about."

Kairi hesitated and looked away. "I don't think…"

"Isn't this what girls do when they get together? Talk about boys and stuff? If you're too nervous I can go first." She offered.

Kairi sighed and nodded. "Sure, okay. I think that'd be better."

"Alright." Spades cleared her throat and sat up straight, looking up at the ceiling as she tried to think of someone to talk about. After a few seconds she shrugged and looked back down at Kairi. "I've got nothing, your turn."

"What? Wait a second!"

"So did you figure it out or did he say something?"

Seeing that there was no point in dancing around the issue with her, she resigned herself to her fate. "It was actually Chirithy, uh… one of his friends, that… sort of told me how he felt. Not explicitly though." She looked down at the sun bracelet and took it off. "He said that Ven had bought this for me."

"So wait, his friend gave you that beautiful bracelet for him? Never took Prince for someone who'd use a wingman."

"Well, not exactly. Apparently Chirithy stole it and gave it to me without Ven's permission." She chuckled. "Poor Ven was mortified when he came trying to stop him."

"So it was an accident."

"Yeah…"

Spades was intrigued. "Why'd you keep it?"

"Ven confirmed it was for me, he didn't want to take it away." Kairi traced the gems with her finger, following the sun shape in the middle.

"And then what happened?"

"I brought him to my house because his hair was soaking wet and it was cold out; didn't want him to get sick."

"And?"

"And I… asked him if he liked me." She hid her face behind her hands, the memory of that moment making her remember her nervousness and embarrassment. "He tried to deny it at first for some reason." 

She slid her hands off her face before brushing her hair behind her ear. "I think he was scared we wouldn't be friends anymore if I knew."

"Well, will you?"

"What? Of course I want to be friends!"

There was something in her tone that made Spades raise a brow. "But?"

"But?" Kairi hesitated. "I don't know… he's had a crush on me for a year now and we haven't had a problem hanging out or talking or anything… He's fun to be around, he's cute, nice, bright, and he makes me laugh, but…"

She hugged her knees to her chest, holding the bracelet in her hands, slowly turning it so the light would dance and bounce between the gems.

"I guess it puts things into a new perspective…"

"And what's that?" Spades leaned in, curious.

Kairi stayed quiet for a moment. 

"I used to love someone, not too long ago."

Spades stared at her, a little confused at the slight change of topic, trying to complete the puzzle of information in her mind. She vaguely remembered Ven mentioning there being someone else, but wasn't that person—?

"He's gone now… and... it's been hard to deal with his absence, but I've been doing better lately. I've had Riku to walk that road with me." Kairi looked up at her. "It's so weird to think that someone else besides him could lo—like me the same way."

She looked back down and took her necklace between her thumb and her index, twisting it back and forth. "It's weird to think that I could ever…"

The same lost look she'd had these past few days came back with her silence.

"I don't think it's weird," Spades started softly. "Maybe a bit hard, given your background, but definitely not impossible."

After a few more seconds of quiet, Kairi sighed. "I'm supposed to talk to him tomorrow. I asked him to give me a week to figure things out, but I don't know what I'm going to tell him."

"Well… think about it this way, imagine the scenario in your head." Spades scooted closer to her and lightly pushed Kairi's shoulder with her own. "Could you see yourself going out with him? Like maybe just on a date or something. As far as I know, going out as friends and hanging out is basically the same as a date, except the way you look at the situation is different. Do you feel like, I don't know, bad thinking about it? Or maybe does it feel like it could actually be an enjoyable experience?"

"I feel bad that… that a part of me would like to know what could happen if I started looking at him in a different light." Something tightened in her chest at that thought. "But I don't want to hurt him, and I'm afraid I'll do that because my heart is stuck in the past."

They both remained quiet, sitting there in Kairi's room, her last words still hanging in the air. Kairi didn't really expect her friend to answer; what could she even say?

And then Spades' face lit up and she said.

"Hey, I've got an idea…"

-

This had been the longest day of the longest week of Ventus' life. He had done his best to keep himself busy and distracted so as to avoid thinking of what would happen any second now today.

Every time he thought about the "what if"s he got that tingling in his stomach that came whenever he was nervous, but not the good kind he was so used to whenever he was around Kairi.

He completely understood her request for time, but he'd be lying if he said he was okay with waiting like this. His appetite had gone away that week—though he still ate the important meals, his thoughts were scattered everywhere and his nerves were basically fried. 

Chirithy hadn't come back either. A part of him worried something had happened, but the other was grateful for the break. He still planned to give him a cold bath as payback for the situation as soon as he saw him. He was not getting out of this one.

Perhaps Ven was being too harsh. Maybe it was better this way, having the truth out there, getting it over with as quickly as possible. At least he had enjoyed his time with her, now that she'd definitely never want to see him again.

Aqua and Terra on the other hand, were hopeful for him. After learning what Chirithy had done and the conversation he and Kairi had had after that, they had tried to make him see the good side of things. It was hard for him to do so in this particular case.

The final day was here, with cold winter air blowing softly and grey clouds covering the entirety of the sky. Fortunately, they could keep themselves warm inside the castle with a nice fire going, piles of blankets, fluffy socks, and warm beverages. Unfortunately, no matter how cozy they were, Ven's nerves wouldn't let him relax as he glanced at his phone on top of the table. It lay there, silent and asleep within its dark screen.

"Nothing's going to happen no matter how hard you look at it, Ven. Just calm down, she'll call you eventually." Terra told him as he brought him a plate full of cookies and sat down beside him, rubbing his hands together near the fire.

"She's not gonna call, she's never gonna talk to me again." Ven cried out softly and grabbed at his hair.

"Here, just eat something." Terra sighed in exasperation as he pressed a cookie to Ven's lips. He reluctantly obeyed. "Now concentrate on chewing and stop being so dramatic or I'm going to toss your phone out a window, got it?"

Ven nodded quickly, stuffing his face with even more sweets.

"Okay, now eat that up and just breathe for two seconds. You'll see it's not as bad as you're making it out to be in your head." Terra picked up a cookie for himself from the plate. "Kairi is your friend and she's a nice girl, so she won't flat out ignore you."

Ventus nodded again, brushing crumbs off his mouth before swallowing. Following his friend's instructions, he sat up straight and began to slow his breathing.

Or at least he tried to, because a few seconds after that his phone loudly emitted a sound, but not just any sound, one he had specifically picked some time ago for whenever he received a message from her.

He flailed wildly, trying to get up, but tripping on the large blankets that enveloped him. He almost choked on air as he did his best not to scream, incoherent panicked sounds coming out of his throat instead.

With all the grace of a newborn baby horse that was given a skate and told to do a flip, he finally reached the table and picked up his phone.

He turned on his spot as if he didn't know what to do with the device, before going back to Terra and shoving it in his hands.

"I can't read it! I can't read it!"

Tired of his exaggerating, but feeling a little bad for him Terra took it and read the message. He raised an eyebrow at it, shrugged and handed him his phone back.

"I don't think this is bad, but just to be safe, maybe you should go ask Aqua."

Ven didn't think he had never run as fast in his life as he had in that moment.

At his yelling and seeing his panicked state, Aqua didn't take long in heeding his request once he found her.

"So what's the problem?" She tilted her head in confusion. "I don't see anything wrong with this message."

He snatched the phone back from her.

It read:  
"Sorry I've kept you waiting so long!  
Can we meet up at the play island in like an hour?"

Ven let out a soft high pitched sound as he pressed the now dark screen to his forehead. "What does this mean? Does she wanna tell me she hates me in person?"

"Come on, Ven, she doesn't hate you!" Aqua pushed down his hands from his face, giving him a reassuring smile. "What's the worst that could happen? Hm?" At his silence she continued. "So say she doesn't like you that way, that doesn't mean she won't still be your friend. At least she likes you enough to have put up with you for this long," she joked. "So lighten up already and get ready to go!"

His worried frown still didn't go away.

"Hey, look at me." Aqua placed a gentle hand on his cheek. When he looked her in the eye she said, "It'll be okay, trust me."

-

The Destiny Islands were a lot less cold than the Land of Departure, but the wind was still chill and the sun hid behind light gray clouds.

Ven, now a lot calmer thanks to Aqua's patient words and some breathing exercises, slowly flew over to the small islands a little ways away from the mainland.

He saw her then, at the edge of the shore, standing just out of reach of the ocean's cold waters. Had he been walking he probably would have tripped at the sight.

It was time to face his fears.

Softly descending on firm ground, Ven unsummoned his armor, the only protecting gear he had against the darkness of the lanes between he'd had to cross to come here.

She turned her head at the noise and, after she spotted him from far away, she started walking towards him.

Ven took a deep breath and walked to meet her halfway.

She stopped a good distance from him, so he followed her example and didn't take another step.

He cleared his throat and swallowed. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." Kairi nodded once, her expression unreadable. To his surprise, she summoned her keyblade and took on an offensive stance. "I want you to fight me."

Gears turned in his brain as he tried to process what was going on. After a second, he still had nothing so he very smartly asked, "huh?"

"Fight me." She tightened her grip on her weapon. "And don't you dare hold back."

He shook his head, panic once again seizing his heart. This was not what he had expected at all. Maybe at most harsh words telling him that she never wanted to see him again, her turning around, then pretending he didn't exist anymore, but certainly not for her to very literally want to kick his butt.

He held his hands in front of him as he took a step back. "Now—now hold on a second! I don't get it! Why? I couldn't do that to you!"

She frowned. That didn't seem to be the answer she was looking for.

She charged at him and, only thanks to his trained reflexes, he managed to jump out of the way. That only seemed to work to further frustrate her.

"I need you—" she swung once, "to fight me,—" twice, "you coward!" and a third time, but he dodged every one of them.

"Wait! Can't we talk about this?" He almost pleaded. Quickly looking around as if there would be some clue as to what kind of situation he had gotten himself into.

"We'll talk after you give me a good fight!" She raised her blade back and above her head.

Seeing he couldn't change her mind so easily, he frowned and raised his arms up as she brought her keyblade back down, only to be met by his own, materializing a second before hers could strike him.

She smiled.

She jumped back and, though it pained him to do so, he took the chance to attack.

Grunting by the pain of taking the hit, she stood her ground, doing her best to defend herself from the rest of his attacks that came in rapid succession.

Had this happened a few years ago, she wouldn't have been able to withstand it. But she had trained and gotten stronger. She had taken hits more violent than these ones. She had survived worse.

So she used her magic, the light she had learned to control and transform in such a way that it would aid her in battle. Beams of light shot out of her weapon, dancing in the air before sweeping towards their target. Some he managed to dissolve with a few swipes, some others slid past his own defenses.

She took the opportunity to get behind him, but like her this was not his first time raising his blade against an opponent and it certainly wouldn't be the last. He turned around in time to block her strike, push it away and parry.

They continued like that, dancing around each other, sand flying at their feet and magic lighting up their surroundings and filling up the space with energy. One of the dancers was clearly more enthusiastic than the other at the whole ordeal.

A keyblade was thrown, a barrier put up, small bursts of electricity shot from the sky. Great arcs were drawn with the tip of a key; fire lit up their faces. Sparks flew at the friction of metal against metal.

They let out their frustration through their hits, let their feelings flow out and use them to fuel their attacks. 

But even though they were going against one another, they made sure the other one was doing okay. Ventus had been the first one to heal her, after a powerful shotlock he had released, right at the moment he saw her waver and almost fall to the ground. 

She had cocked an eyebrow at that, but had gone right back to fighting him.

A moment later she returned the favor.

Their battle went on and on for minutes. It probably would've ended sooner if they stopped healing so much. But exhaustion soon caught up to them with the overuse of their magic.

They tried to catch their breath as they locked keyblades and pushed, keeping each other in place. Something shined from the corner of Ventus’ eye, the sun reflecting off a golden object. He glanced down from her eyes to her hands and he wavered, stumbling back under her weight before regaining his stance. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed earlier.

"You… you still have the bracelet on…"

Kairi’s eyes widened for a fragment of a second before she stepped aside and let him fall forward. He was smart enough to close his mouth and eyes on the way down before his face met sand. He tried to right himself up again before he felt something cold press against the back of his neck. When he looked back he was met by the tip of her blade and her proud stance at the other end of it.

She was still panting for air; he was in not too different of a condition.

He rolled around to face her better. Her deep blue eyes stared at him unwavering. He hoped she was satisfied enough with their fight to let him rest for a while, but he waited for her to say or do something. 

Without hesitation, she said, “take me out on a date.”

His heart stopped.

“What?” he exclaimed breathless.

“Take me out on a date.” She repeated.

He was speechless for a moment, only able to let out short puffs of air with some sort of confused intonation behind. He frowned and let his head fall back.

“Kairi, I’m really not liking this joke. Just let me perish already, make it quick and painless.” He whined and let an arm fall over his eyes.

“I’m not joking.” She dug her keyblade on the sand beside her with a swift motion and sat down facing him.

“What?” He took his arm off his face and lifted his weight with his elbows. “Then what was all this for?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t really sure what to do after the time was up,” she laughed softly, “but Sora and Riku always seemed to solve their problems by beating them up with wooden swords or keyblades, so I tried their method. And it also really helped to blow off some steam.”

"You beat me up because I was a problem?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I just needed this to clear up my mind a bit to make my decision."

“Wait! So you don’t hate me?”

“Wh—of course not!” she looked almost offended for a second, then her face shifted from surprised to sheepish. “Ah, I guess it could’ve looked like that from the outside now that I think about it…”

“Yeah, no kidding!” he sighed. “But wait, back up again. You want me to—you want to…”

“Yes.”

His insides fluttered at that.

“I—are you sure? I mean, not that I mind, you know? It’s just—” 

She grinned at him, most likely amused by his stuttering.

“Just take me out on one date, we’ll see how it goes from there. Deal?” she offered her hand out to him.

His smile was the most radiant and hopeful one she had ever seen from him.

He gave her hand a firm and enthusiastic shake. “Deal!”

-

"You look a lot better today. What happened?" Riku sat down next to her before the class started.

"Oh, got some things sorted out and faced my fears head on.” She beamed at him, giving a nonchalant shrug.

“So you don’t have a…” He did some vague gestures with his hands. “A problem anymore?”

She shook her head and placed a hand over the golden bracelet on her wrist. “Not for now. You don’t need to worry about it. I have a feeling everything will turn out alright.”

After a moment of silence Riku asked, "Can I at least know his name?"

"I'll keep that to myself for now." She winked.

-

“Oh Chirithy! Where are you buddy?” Ventus cupped his hands around his mouth as he walked around the castle, the goofiest grin on his face. “I’m not mad anymore! I just wanna talk!”

“That sounds like something someone mad would say…” His little dream eater softly spoke up from behind him.

Ven turned around, lifted his arms up as Chirithy hid his eyes behind his paws, expecting the worst. He scooped him up and spun him around as he hugged him.

“I’m so sorry for doubting you! You were right, she doesn’t hate me! Kairi doesn’t hate me.” Ven lifted him over his head, brought him back down and placed a kiss on his cheek. "You're the best! And I forgive you for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, just this once."

"Does this mean you're not going to give me a cold bath?" He asked cautiously.

"Of course not! And I would've never done such a thing anyways."

"Uh-huh"

Ven laughed and set the spirit back on the ground. "Now come on, I've got a date to plan!"


End file.
